OK - could it not be done by a star rating? Appreciate the risks of anonymous postings [the Tripadvisor effect].....otherwise to be balanced you'd have to reject positive anonymous posts as well, since they are equally liable to bias....again, the Tripadvisor effect!!

OK - could it not be done by a star rating? Appreciate the risks of anonymous postings [the Tripadvisor effect].....otherwise to be balanced you'd have to reject positive anonymous posts as well, since they are equally liable to bias....again, the Tripadvisor effect!!

On a site this size we do not have to worry about the "trip advisor effect". We just have a general policy and then use our best judgement when applying it. It is the experience here that negative comments can quickly turn into serious arguments, accusations and recriminations. This has in the past resulted in me being phoned by the owner of a premises to complain about comments made. If a person is prepared to leave their name, address and telephone number for me to pass on perhaps it would be ok but how do I defend an anonymous comment that a person I know tells me is not true and I have no means of substantiating?

Yeah I get all that....sad state of affairs when folks behave like that on a forum which is meant to be about supporting and developing community cohesion and giving everyone respect and a fair voice. Why for that matter is the forum anonymised?

Yeah I get all that....sad state of affairs when folks behave like that on a forum which is meant to be about supporting and developing community cohesion and giving everyone respect and a fair voice. Why for that matter is the forum anonymised?

Heritage, whats your problem, are you determined to argue with anything? You know the reason for not naming individual food suppliers, the authorities will deal with that. I did suggest in an earlier post- work it out and see for yourself?

Have a nice day and ps. I love the spell checker

Logged

“Every process in your organization has a customer, and without a customer a process has no purpose. "

It's a legacy issue as much as anything. This forum is more than 10 years old and when it was first set up visitors could post as guests. They didn't even need to log in and everything worked pretty well. But gradually the dreaded spammers started to hijack it trying to post their links for viagra, prescription drugs and pornography. It wasn't just happening on this site but across the entire www on all kinds of platforms. They rendered the first guest book on the site unworkable and then the second, more sophisticated one, as the spammers go cleverer too. It was a running battle to keep removing them from the forum and the need to introduce some form of control became essential. This was to force users to register. Many of our first users registered with their own names, often just their first names like Dave, Howard, Barbara, Alison etc. (all who are still with us) but gradually more and more people started using "handles" or aliases. All I was interested in was stopping the spammers and I didn't see much of an issue with this at the time.

However, experience has shown that people posting under their real name are generally more thoughtful and considerate about what they write. Given that time over again I would probably insist that people use their real names to register. In fact I have been considering introducing this as a requirement for new users for a while but haven't quite reached that point yet.

Given that time over again I would probably insist that people use their real names to register. In fact I have been considering introducing this as a requirement for new users for a while but haven't quite reached that point yet.

It's an interesting issue. As a long-time member (over ten years) who has used his real name, it makes me reflect on how I would feel about using my full name, instead of just the first bit. In many ways it seems like a good idea, except that unfortunately there's just a tiny minority of users who can be unpleasant or even, on occasion, abusive, and that makes me feel less comfortable about it.

But then, it goes with the territory: forums such as this are open to anyone who wants to join, irrespective of whether they know how to behave or not. And that is, in many ways, a great strength.

Dave has a good point. I would be very uncomfortable with my full name appearing on this, or any other open forum, not because I wouldn't stand by anything I say, its just a privacy and safety issue. Some people on here know who I am, but that's mainly because they know me from my association with Marple. I am however, quite comfortable for Admin(s) to be aware of my full name and to verify my identity.